


Violet in Tooth and Claw: The Therapist

by duointherain



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:47:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27323755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/duointherain/pseuds/duointherain
Summary: This is set a decade after the original Violet in Tooth and Claw, which still isn't finished. Just slice of life, therapy, and Heero and Duo.
Relationships: Duo Maxwell/Heero Yuy
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	Violet in Tooth and Claw: The Therapist

Violet in Tooth and Claw: The Therapist 1/1

by duointherain

Disclaimer: I don’t own Gundam Wing.

Notes: I know! I haven’t finished the primary story in this thread! The next chapter has been open on my machine for weeks now. Maybe tonight. 

“I’ve thought about what we talked about last week,” Duo said, hands in the front pouch of his hoodie. “A lot.”

He was older, softer than he’d been during the wars, a touch of silver at his temples and a streak of darker down the center. 

His therapist was younger, long sandy hair and eyes that weren’t brown, but not much more could really be said about them. “What did you think about?”

“Yeah, so, like it was a lot. Remembering my mother sucked. For a while I was really angry and then I realized that I was just afraid of everyone, and I mean everyone.”

“Including your partner? The signs of domestic violence are things we should not ignore.”

“Yeah, even Heero, for a bit,” Duo said, pausing, petting his eternal kittens where they curled up in his pocket, “but, it’s complicated. No one’s perfect. All humans are shit. So I’m either going to fear them all, or love them all. Love is the opposite of fear, see? Yeah, Heero gets a little out of hand sometimes. He’s got his problems too, but his love for me isn’t about something he needs from me. I need him just as much and I’m not always the healthiest and most shining example of humanity.” 

“So you’re going to make excuses for him?”

“Kinda, but I’m making excuses for myself too. I think the growth is that, see, I was angry. I’m angry, like deep down inside, over what my mother did, over what the world did to me. None of that shit is fair.”

“Do you still think Persephone is your birth mother?” 

“That’s a different story. I’m talking about the mentally ill woman who used to be the shit out of me and did her best when she abandoned me on L2 streets. I guess, I’m complaining about my adoptive mom. So, yeah, Persephone is my birth mother and Hades is pretty okay. ‘Ro and I are going to spend All Hallow’s Eve with them. They’re okay. That’s beside the point though.” 

“What’s the point?”

“The point is, that early this last week, after our last visit, I realized of all the things I’ll fight for, I was forgetting the most important one.” 

“What’s that?”

“Me.”

“Tell me more about that?” 

Duo smirked, letting the new sense of comfort and acceptance settle in. “So it was right after we spoke, when I realized, you know the things I said I’d fight for, the colonies, my kittens, Heero... that I forgot the most important thing, because like, I’ve never even thought about how I should be fighting for that before. It was always about, I don’t know, maybe proving that I was good enough, and someone else would fight for me. And you know, Heero does fight for me, always has, but yeah, I have to fight for myself. If I don’t fight for myself, any hard wind will blow me away, eat me up.”

“So now you’re going to fight for yourself? How are you going to do that?”

“Like, but I’m either all in or all out,” Duo said, as if she hadn’t asked him a question because he wasn’t finished with the answer he’d been working on, “So like, if I fight for myself, I had a couple of days where I wasn’t going to fight for anyone else either. All in or all out. So without that barrier of love protecting me, I realized deep down I’m fucking terrified of everyone.” 

“Irrational fears can be very hard to overcome,” she said, just her face in the video.

Duo sat up a little straighter and wagged his finger as Spot crawled out of his pocket and up onto his shoulder. “It’s not irrational. Every human I’ve ever met is violent, self-centered, and dangerous as fuck.” 

“Do you think I’m dangerous.” 

“Under the right circumstances, yeah. So for a few days, I was pretty down about that, but then I realized that love is the opposite of fear and that’s why I love everyone and with a bit of finesse I can work it out so I get to take care of myself and take care of other people as much as I can balance.” 

“That is excellent progress. Would you like to talk about turning into a possum sometimes?”

“Not really. I’m okay with that and it’s no more out there than Catholic. You never ask me about if I want to talk about being Catholic.”

“Do you think you’ll have a hard time with November/December this year?”

“No, I think I figured that out too. I think I’m going to be okay.” 

“Let’s talk about this next week then? Same time and day?”

“Yeah, that’ll be great,” Duo said, smiling, feeling more at peace than he had, maybe every. He still had high anxiety. His ears were still ringing from it, even with the medication. Some things were just like that and you had to be patient and gentle with one’s self. “See you then.” 

A week from then, he might be in a whole different place, but at that moment, he was really okay. 

The room they kept for therapy sessions wasn’t very big and it wasn’t used for anything else. The ship itself was big, more a micro station than a ship. They had a couple acres of pine forest and a sky that looked close enough to Earth for Duo’s taste. Their house was a Japanese style, but Duo insisted on a nice lower gravity bed, at least on his side. 

They even had a couple actual cats and a shiba inu. Duo understood full well that his ‘kittens’ were possums, but he loved Spot and Lemon just the same. It was kind of practice for humans were shitty, but you loved them just the same. 

Heero opened the door as Duo started up the stairs towards the house. Those blue eyes were the most mysterious and wondrous artifacts in the whole universe, as far as Duo was concerned. 

“Good session,” Heero asked, stepping aside so Duo could toe his shoes off just inside the door. 

“Yeah.” 

“What conclusion did you come to?”

Turning to face him, Duo smiled brightly. Duo was taller than Heero now, which had bothered Heero when it first happened. “That I love you, that I can show up for you and for me and neither of us have to be perfect for satisfactory mental health. Also, I’m hungry.” 

“You’re always hungry.” 

“Some things never change.”

“I made udon and I love you too.”

Duo held out his hand. Heero slid his fingers between Duo’s slightly larger ones. “Meditate with me after lunch?”

“After a nap?”

“Deal.” 

Life was good.


End file.
